Tuesday, August 11, 2015

Its another one of those exposures that I can only guess the cause. It was bad. Very bad. I'd been spending days working on my RV and feeling nearly normal. I decide to tackle the vanity mirror. I'd duct taped it shut because a previous owner had spilled perfume in there. I'd filled it with tea bags to absorb the odors. Its been 4 years, I figured it was safe enough. I pulled off the tape, cleaned out the teabags and sprayed it down with enzymes. It still smelled of perfume so I removed everything that still stunk. The door, the top of the lowest shelf and the bottoms of the middle two. I took them all outside. My husband can cut new sections of shelf out of trim I'd saved. I started putting more coats of sealer on the door. I didn't notice much of an adverse reaction from working with the perfumey door. I was standing on the up wind side while working on it. I went in and out all day, putting on 12 coats. I did sniff it after each coat. Ron was working on his boat. We were having a great, nearly normal day. I even cooked dinner for my daughter and her family. It was after dinner, and after I took the dog out for her evening potty, that I started to have stomach pains. Intense, sharp stomach pains, like I'd ingested something bad.

Only I hadn't really eaten anything. I only had a little taste of the meatloaf sauce. I can't eat meat, I can't get it past my LES, because of the achalasia. So when I started feeling nauseous after dinner, I was surprised. I went to bed but my stomach just got worse. It was tying itself into a painful knot. It felt like it was twisting up tighter and tighter, wrapped around a searing hot blade. Yeah, I know, it sounds melodramatic. But thats the only way I can describe it accurately. You know I don't vomit because of the achalasia, right? Well, it felt like I wanted to vomit, but I couldn't. So there I was, feeling like I wanted to vomit and the pressure under my LES building and building, and the painful spot winding up tighter and tighter. Around 10:00 p.m. my body overcame the tightly clamped LES and violently purged itself. Violently was not an understatement. It left me feeling beat up, shaking and weak. Only it wasn't done yet. I vomitted all night. The last round was about 6:00 in the morning.

When I woke up around 9:00 I was so weak I couldn't get out of bed. It was all I could do to sit up. I was shaking and disoriented. I could barely think. I knew I needed to get up and let the dog out. I knew I needed to take care of myself. I remember thinking that if there was ever a time I needed someone to take care of me, this was it. I forced myself to do it. I moved slowly. Pain started ramping up and I found myself in the middle of one of those horrible days where I take scalding hot showers, alternating with the IR sauna continuously, and crying in pain. My liver was so swollen I could barely stand it. My lymph glands were congesting. My head was pounding with a full on migraine. Even sound hurt. It reminded me of the time we were staying at the yurts on the coast and the campground sprayed for mosquitos. My stomach was still painful and queasy so I was afraid to try to put anything in it. Damned if I do, damned if I don't. Finally, I tried taking a whole dropper full of one of my meds for my liver (like 10x the normal dose) and my liver's swelling went down. Around 8:00 p.m. the pain was gone. I crawled into the sauna one more time, then went to bed.

I slept pretty good that night. I'm still weak and sore, but no longer shakey. I managed some coffee and my nutritionals with yogurt. I'm crawling out of the hole, slowly. I was supposed to watch Joey today. I can't do that. I cancelled my dentist apt for Thursday. I don't know exactly what got me. It could have been the perfume. It could have been whatever Ron was using on his boat. Or someone could have sprayed something, and I wasn't aware of it. I don't know, so I'm staying in. If I had the energy I think I'd be depressed about having been knocked off my pins again. Only I'm to tired to think about it.

About Me

In 2004 I was diagnosed with Chemical Sensitivity. It resulted from pesticide poisoning, a Toxic Injury. I lost about 98% of who I was. I've embarked on the journey of "Rebuilding me."
You can find me on Facebook at "Toxed2loss"